


Listen

by Evilawyer



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-13
Updated: 2007-12-13
Packaged: 2018-01-10 04:22:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1155028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evilawyer/pseuds/Evilawyer





	Listen

Drusilla gazed at the body laying at her feet. She had to bury him before he rose, the way it was done in the old days. It wouldn't do to let him rise in this dark alley, surrounded by bales of hay and horse dung. The old way was better. She was an old-fashioned girl, after all.

Swirling dust and wind drew her attention to the alley entry, where a blue box came into view. A tall, thin dark-haired man in a strange-looking blue suit stepped out. He began to make his way out of the alley, but turned abruptly and ran to Drusilla's side.

“What happened, then? Are you all right?” The Doctor knelt beside the man lying on the ground and felt for a pulse. “Nothing. Completely exsanguinated, by the look of it.” Looking up at Drusilla, he asked “Did you see what did this? Were you here when it happened?”

“He'll be rising soon. I don't have much time.”

“I'm sorry, but he's not getting up again. Do you know him?”

Drusilla looked at the body, then at the sky. “I will. The stars whisper to me about him even now.” She looked back down at the Doctor. “But about **you** , the stars scream.”

The Doctor stood up. He was not frightened. He'd had run ins with people visiting from the other side of the sanity fence during nearly all of his regenerations. Quite possibly all of them, but he did not want to take the time to trace them through his memories. _Compared to most of them,_ he thought, _she's as right as rain. She may be a nutter, but she's nothing to worry about. Not for now, at any rate. And at least she's not wittering on about taking over the galaxy or ruling the universe._ He was, however, curious.

“What do they scream?”

“That time does your bidding. That space folds in on itself for you. They say you bring cures for all sorts of ills and call you Doctor.”

 _Oh,_ he thought, _this one has it bad. Very bad. Her ESP's so strong she can't control it. It's always on. She's always hearing everyone and everything. No wonder she's crazy. And is that blood at the corner of her mouth?_

Drusilla drew a lace handkerchief from her sleeve and demurely dabbed at the corner of her mouth. “Sorry. A lady shouldn't be seen with bits of supper on her face.”

 _Yeah, crazy. And maybe not so harmless. Still, she's no threat right now._ “Look, I know a place, some people, that can help you. They can teach you to control your powers. You'll still be able to hear the stars, but they'll only talk when you want them to. About the blood thing, though, well...I'm sure that they can find a non-violently sourced supply of blood and a windowless bedroom about the place for you. I'll take you there now. What do you say?”

Drusilla bounced up and down and clapped. “Please, may my William come, too?”

Reaching back and rubbing the back of his head, the Doctor looked at the body on the ground. “That's William, I take it. Well, that might be a bit difficult because, well, because he's dead.”

“Only a little.”

“Well, dead is dead. There's no element of degree or a temporal aspect to it. Not that I've ever seen anyway. Wouldn't really fit well, actually, since it would mean that there really are fixed points in time. That's just wrong.”

Drusilla giggled. “So old and clever and yet so much to learn. Dead is not always dead for always. You'll know the difference one day. Now you know the death that lasts, the death that destroys. You bring it. You're the destroyer of worlds.”

It was like a knife to the gut, being named Destroyer by this strange, dark creature. “I don't. I don't bring death.”

“Oh, yes you do, you naughty boy. The pixies told me so.”

“Yeah. That's the thing about Pixies. They aren't known for being the most honest and trustworthy species in the universe. Bit on the lazy side, too. In fact, if they could, they'd sit around all day eating toffees, drinking lattes and gossiping. Or reading fanfic on the Internet. 'specially slash.”

Drusilla frowned prettily. “Slash?”

“Yeah, they love their slash, they do. Can't say as I go in for it much myself.”

Drusilla's face was a mask of confusion. “That's very strange. Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Well, mind you, some of it's kind of interesting. I've skimmed over some pretty decent stuff about these two vampires, coincidentally enough, with souls, but it's just generally not my cup of tea.”

Seized with a bout of near sanity, Drusilla wisely decided to ignore the Doctor's babblings and seek clarification another way. “But I see great races die in blazing fires and planets crumble, even though you turn time to your will. I see death and destruction across the stars. Across time. I see you there.”

 _Oh, she sees, too. She can see it. She can see me,_ he thought. “It's not always like that.”

Drusilla looked into the Doctor's eyes so piercingly that he felt as though she was trying to see into his soul. He let her. “No, it isn't. The pixies say you save worlds, too, but that sometimes salvation and destruction wear the same gloves. And that you've no one near who understands that.” She sounded completely and utterly sane. The Doctor shuddered, partly from a desire to learn more about himself through her and partly from a feeling that he would not call loneliness.

“Travel with me. It's not all death and doom, although I expect you'd like that, too. There's all sorts of beautiful things to see out there. Peaceful things. Living things. You'll like it. You can tell me more about what the pixies have to say about me.”

Drusilla moved to stand close to him. She placed both of her hands on his chest, right over his hearts. “They already tell me that you miss your sunshine. I can fill your time with the pixies' tales, but your hearts will be bleak no matter what I say or do. My William will crave his sunshine one day, too. It already hurts to know that he'll leave me to follow it. You mustn't tell Daddy, but I don't really like to hurt. Not like that. So I can't travel with you.”

The Doctor thought he had done well so far in keeping up with the twists of her mind. Now he was perplexed. “I don't understand. Are you afraid you'll get hurt? I wouldn't let you get hurt. I won't lose anyone else.”

Drusilla smiled. “You can hurt without meaning to. Without knowing it. And losing something you didn't really want in the first place doesn't count as losing. Besides,” she looked down at William's body, “I need to tend to William. He'll need me and he'll want me. For a time.”

The Doctor felt an inexplicable surge of loss. _Ridiculous. I haven't lost anything._ He was just a bit disappointed, that was all. Disappointed and a little surprised that this strange woman had rejected his offer. She seemed like just the type who would love seeing the universe. Stepping back into the TARDIS, he turned in the doorway to speak to Drusilla one last time. “All right, then. I'll leave you to it. Take care of yourself. Be careful... I don't know your name.”

"No, you don't."

The Doctor closed the door. Drusilla watched the TARDIS dematerialize, then looked back down at William. “It's always the blondes they want,” she said sadly as she bent to pick him up to carry him out of the alley. “Always the blondes.”

 


End file.
